Häufig gestellte Fragen
What are good alternatives to Lexware?
For growing businesses, Sage 100, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Weclapp, Xentral, SAP Business One and myfactory have established themselves as Lexware successors in the DACH mid-market. Sage 100 is regarded as the classic on-premise or hosted step up with strong merchandise management and accounting, while Weclapp and Xentral operate cloud-natively and cover retail and e-commerce in particular. Which solution fits depends on industry, cloud preference, manufacturing depth and budget — there is no single best alternative across the board. The sensible approach is a structured requirements comparison along the processes that Lexware no longer supports today.
When should you switch from Lexware to a mid-market ERP?
A switch usually becomes relevant when requirements such as multiple warehouses, batch or serial numbers, production, multiple company codes or sites, as well as deep interfaces and workflow automation come into play. Lexware is designed for micro-businesses and the self-employed; with growing data volumes and more complex workflows it reaches functional limits. In practice, many businesses consider the move from around 10 to 20 employees, or when standard processes no longer fit Lexware's fixed logic. The decisive factor is less the sheer headcount than the maturity of the processes and the need for customisation.
Can Lexware data be transferred to the new ERP?
Yes, master data such as customers, suppliers and items as well as open items can generally be migrated, with Lexware typically providing exports as CSV or XML files. Posting and financial data often run via the DATEV format, as Lexware works with the DATEV standard charts of accounts SKR03 and SKR04. Since the field logic in the target system often differs, clean field mapping and data cleansing before the import are recommended. Existing posting histories are usually not transferred one-to-one but represented via opening balances and cut-off-date figures.
What is the simplest Lexware alternative for e-commerce?
For online retailers, Xentral and Weclapp are particularly widespread because they come with shop and marketplace connections such as Shopify, Amazon or eBay as well as multichannel processes out of the box. Both are cloud-based, so no in-house server is needed and updates are applied automatically. JTL-Wawi is another e-commerce-strong option that is especially widespread in mail-order retail. The simplest solution is ultimately the one that matches the sales channels used, the shipping volume and the desired warehouse logic.
Can you keep Lexware and just add an ERP?
That is possible: some businesses continue to use Lexware for financial accounting and connect an ERP or merchandise management system for warehouse, orders and purchasing. Documents and posting batches can be transferred between the systems via the DATEV-compliant interface. This parallel operation initially lowers the migration hurdle, but creates duplicate master data maintenance and reconciliation effort at the interface. In the long term, an integrated system that keeps merchandise management and accounting in one database is usually more efficient and less error-prone.
What does a Lexware alternative cost compared with Lexware?
Lexware sits in the lower price segment: packages such as business plus or business pro cost roughly in the low three-digit to high three-digit euro range per year depending on the licence model, with the subscription variant around 20 percent cheaper than the fixed-term 365-day licence, according to the vendor. Mid-market ERP systems are generally considerably more expensive, since on top of the mostly user-based licence or cloud fees there are implementation, data migration, training and possibly customisations. Cloud ERP such as Weclapp or Business Central is typically billed per user per month, which enables predictable monthly costs without an in-house server. Reliable figures only emerge from a concrete quote, as functional scope and user count strongly influence the price.
Do the Lexware alternatives support the e-invoicing mandate?
Since 1 January 2025, domestic companies in the B2B sector must be able to receive and process e-invoices compliant with the European standard EN 16931; staggered transition periods apply to issuing, so the e-invoicing mandate applies from 2027 to higher-revenue businesses and from 2028 largely to all. Common formats are XRechnung and the hybrid ZUGFeRD format. Established mid-market ERP solutions such as Sage 100, Dynamics 365 Business Central, Weclapp and Xentral support these standards in current versions, so e-invoices can be created and received directly from the system. Before buying, you should nevertheless verify the specific format and version support with the vendor, as functional scope and roadmaps differ.
How long does the move from Lexware to an ERP take?
The switch from Lexware is usually a re-implementation rather than a mere update, as the new system is set up, configured and populated with migrated data independently. The pure data migration phase with export, cleansing and import often runs over several weeks in parallel with day-to-day business, depending on data volume and complexity. The total duration of a project ranges from a few weeks for lean cloud solutions to several months for extensive processes and interfaces. It is important to involve the tax advisor early because of the DATEV handover and to set a clean cut-off date for open items and the opening balance sheet.